On motor vehicles, wipers come into use for cleaning windshields, headlights, and mirrors. The driving of the wiper takes place typically by means of an electric drive and various types of gears that cooperate with the electric drive, such as, for example, a wiper lever system. With rear window wipers on motor vehicles, today mostly single wipers are used, while for cleaning of the front window on roadway or rail vehicles, two-armed window pane wipers are used. If two motors are used for driving the front windshield, differently designed variants are required for the drive on the driver and passengers sides of the vehicle.
DE 196 42 667 A1 relates to a bearing for a wiper drive. A wiper assembly on a motor vehicle is drive by means of a wiper drive. The wiper assembly includes a tubular sheet, which accommodates the wiper drive with a drive shaft guided in a bearing support. The wiper drive, according to this solution, is inserted with the bearing support into a tube-shaped element arranged on the tubular sheet. The tubular element is formed on the tubular sheet, whereby the bearing support of the wiper drive is plugged through the tubular sheet. The wiper drive is fixed in the circumferential direction by a force connection between the bearing supports and the tubular element on the tubular sheet; however, also a form-fitting connecting in the circumferential direction between the bearing supports and the tubular element can be used.
The tubular element can have an inner contour that deviates from a circular shape, in particular, a polygonal or non-round inner contour, which corresponds with an adapted outer contour of the bearing supports. A fixing between the bearing supports of the wiper drive and the tubular element can also take place via toothing.
The solution sown in DE 196 42 667 requires two constructively differently designed variations for the driver or passenger sides of a vehicle or a railway vehicle, as well as lever systems or linkages that are adapted to the constructively different variations, which likewise, are not mirror-symmetrical. This requires the manufacture of at least two variations of wiper linkages or lever systems or front wiper drives or headlight wiper drives for the driver and passenger sides of the vehicle.
Based on the restricted, principal-related mismatch of the drive and drive axis of a worm gear, it is necessary to make different mountings for the drive and passenger sides for this type of gear construction. In addition, worm gears required, based on the restricted mismatch of drive and drive shaft, a relatively large amount of space.
With the proposed solution according to the present invention, a wiper drive is manufactured, which allows integration in a hollow shaft. Based on the mirror-symmetrical structure of the proposed wiper drive, the drive axis of this wiper drive lies in the mirror plane or the drive axis in the center of the rotationally symmetrical component. If the drive axis of the wiper drive, in particular, is used directly for driving a wiper or a wiper arm, an extremely compactly structured direct wiper drive (WDA) exists. The mirror-symmetrical structure of the wiper drive of the present invention offers substantial advantages with regard to the required mounting space and possible savings in costs.
If two-motor wiper assemblies or the above-mentioned direct wiper drive are used, identical drives for the drive and passenger sides can be used. This means that only one component must be manufacture, labeled, stored, packaged and transported, which substantially reduces the manufacturing costs as well as the logistical costs. In particular, the vehicle body-side connection points for the rotationally or mirror symmetrical wiper drive (or also direct wiper drive) can be standardized, so that identical flange-forming bores or mounting surfaces can be provided, which are identical on the driver- or passenger-side mounting points of the wiper drive. Likewise, also the electrical connections or the electronics of the drive, connectors, control and regulating electronics, as well as the connection to the on-board supply system or the vehicle bus system (CAN-Bus) can be designed identically.
The connection concept with regard to the use of mirror-symmetrical wiper drives or direct wiper drives can be standardized, and therewith, the application constructionxe2x80x94perhaps with the automobile manufacturexe2x80x94and the installation can be considerably simplified. Rationalization effects or rationalization potential with the solution proposed by the present invention are, above all to be seen, that by the use of the same designs for different drivesxe2x80x94be it the front and back wiper, be it a headlight wiperxe2x80x94identical components can be accessed. With a wiper drive that operates as a rotationally symmetric component and an adaptive electronic, which optionally can include a position detector, additional simplifications upon installation can be realized with all wiper drives, since then, the position of the drive and wiper lever or another wiper arm component to another upon assembly is user-defined. This means with regard to the installation in the end assembly substantially facilitated assembly, since, on the one hand, a minimal installation and minimal cycle time can be achieved, and on the other hand, fewer installation errors can occur.